Sweetness Fights Back
by DreamItAnyway87
Summary: My take on the current storyline with Steve & Kayla.  Kayla seeks revenge againist Andre after Steve is stabbed, Pocket is poisined and Benjy dies.
1. Chapter 1 : In Broad Daylight

"Sweetness Fights Back"

Chapter 1:"In Broad Daylight"

He felt the knife plunge into his chest and felt himself grow weak at the knees as he trembled slowly to the ground. Steve moaned and groaned in utter agony. He could feel himself start to lose air. Breathing was a struggle. His vision was starting to blur.

Faintly, he could hear the laugh of his attacker. It was an evil laugh, a demented laugh. The laugh of someone who's sole mission in life was to cause pain in the hearts and minds of all that dare cross his path--- it was the cold and heartless laugh of Andre DiMeria's. Though his vision was quite blurred and everything in the room was getting fuzzier and darker, Steve could vaguely make out the outline of Andre's face. Looking up at Andre, Steve could see nothing but a cold heartless man. He wondered what or who for that matter turned this man into the monster that he was. For the briefest of moments, Steve actually felt sorry for this man.

Then, he stopped when the reality of his current circumstance set in.

Andre towered over Steve and smirked.

"You thought you could get away with it, didn't you, Steven"? Andre asked.

"I can't believe you actually thought you could get away with it. You and your pathetic family... Now I am the one with the last laugh! Death becomes the Patchman!"

With that, Andre tied Steve's hands behind his back and took his phone from his black leather jacket pocket.

Steve could feel anger start to boil up inside. Weakly, he grumbled,

"You lowdown, sneaky underhanded son of a ---"

Andre cut him off. "Watch your mouth there, my boy. You are in a church!"

Laughing again, Andrea held the phone over Steve's head and continued his banter of torment.

"We must call your precious Kayla... yes, what do you call her now? Sweetness is it? Yes, yes... we must call your precious Sweetness."

Steve tried to get up to take the phone away from Andre, but it was no use. He was too weak. Moaning in pain and frustration, Steve raised his voice.

"Don't you dare harm Kayla! Do you hear me? Leave her out of this! You got what you wanted. Just leave Kayla, Stephie and Pocket alone! You've done enough damage!"

Andre shook his head and grinned that evil grin of his.

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet..."

With that, he took a tape recorder from his bag and dialed Kayla's cell. With tape recorder in one hand and phone in the other, he waited for Kayla's voice to answer and then played the chilling message.

Steve's voice cried out:

"Kayla, Sweetness... help! I'm so scared baby! Please! Hurry! I'm at the church!"

When the message was done, Andrea hung up the phone, let out one final evil laugh and left the church; leaving Steve alone.

Hearing Steve's message chilled Kayla to the bone. When the phone suddenly went dead, Kayla yelled back at it...

"Steve! Steve! Answer me! What's going on?!"

All she could hear was static.

"Hold on, baby! I'm coming!"


	2. Safe In The Arms Of Love

Chapter 2: "Safe In the Arms of Love"

The seconds ticked by slowly. With every passing moment, Steve felt himself grow increasingly weak. He knew by the lightheadedness he was experiencing that he was probably losing a fair amount of blood. His eyes were growing weary but he was afraid to close them for fear of never awaking again. Everything around him was growing darker and fizzier by the moment. In this state of semi –consciousness, his thoughts turned to Kayla. Kayla. Just the very thought of her brought an instant smile to his face. She was his world: lover, best friend, the one he would do anything for. She was his everything—His Sweetness... Steve's mind played and replayed a series of flashbacks: his and Kayla's first wedding, the birth of their baby girl and other various happy occasions. Then, Steve's mind flashed back to not so happy times. Damn those DiMeria's for what they put his family through – especially Kayla! Kayla had been through hell over the last year and a half – not to mention the sixteen years they had to endure apart – all because of the DiMeria's sick mind games. Who knew what Andre would do to Kayla now? This was a trap to lead her here. She was in danger. Steve grimaced in agony both because of his physical pain and the very thought of those awful people harming his beloved Kayla.

"Kayla.", he whispered. "I can't let them--- Unable to finish his sentence, Steve took one final gasping breath and passed out.

Meanwhile, Kayla was steps away from the church's front entrance. She was running as fast as her legs could take her. Her mind was racing far too fast for proper thought process to occur—it was on one track – only thinking about one thing... Steve. She had to find him... Picking up the pace, she made it to the front door and stopped suddenly when she noticed a note nailed to the door. Upon further examination, Kayla noticed the drops of blood on the note.

"_You will never find me... You can't escape me... I am everywhere you turn and I will not rest until my grandfather's wishes are carried out and every last member of the Brady family is dead. ", _Kayla read aloud.

"Andre! "She sneered under her breath. It was then that she realized that blood on the note was fresh.

Immediately , Kayla threw the note down and raced inside the church.

"Steve! ", she yelled frantically. "Steve! Where are you?"

Kayla ran up and down, yelling her husband's name. She couldn't find him. Then something caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye, Kayla saw blood splattered on a wall in the far right hand side of the room. She followed the trail of blood on the wall until she saw a man sprawled out in another corner by the confessional. Kayla felt nauseous as she edged closer to the figure, realizing at first glance that it was Steve. Bending down to her knees, Kayla took her husband in her arms, lifting him to her and holding him close. Softly, she spoke to him:

"Steve? Steve, I'm here baby can you wake up for me?"

He looked like hell and that scared her. She had no idea how much blood he had lost. Steve lay motionless in her arms. Going into her doctor mindset, Kayla examined Steve's vitals. She took his arm and felt for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. He was fighting to live. Kayla smiled a little. Steve was a fighter. He had fought so hard to get back to her and she, just as hard to keep him, to save him from the DiMeria's mind control. She knew that their fight was far from over. In many ways, it was just beginning. Shaking her head, Kayla wondered just how much more they could take, how many more battles they would have to fight and just how much more of her family dynamics would be destroyed because of this damn vendetta. All she knew was that she couldn't lose her husband... not again. The DiMeria's had stolen Steve away from her and tortured him for sixteen years while she thought he had died. She was damned sure not to let them succeed a second time around! As God as her witness, they were going to pay for their actions! If it was the last thing she did on this Earth, she was going to make them pay!

Despite her best attempts, Kayla could not awaken Steve. She knew that time was of the essence so she grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911.

"This is Dr. Kayla Johnson. I need an ambulance to St. Luke's Stat! And please call ahead to the hospital and have them clear out the ER on my order. My husband has been stabbed. He's losing blood and we don't have much time. Yes. Please hurry!"

Being head doctor at Salem University Hospital did have its advantages for this, Kayla was grateful. After calling for help, Kayla picked up the phone again and dialed her brother, Bo's cell phone. He was a cop and had been tracking Andre for a long time so Kayla figured he had to know what happened to her Steve.

"Come on, Bo. Please answer!" Kayla said; her voice barely a whisper as she listened to the dial tone in her ear. Finally, the dial tone stopped and Bo's voicemail clicked on.

"Damn", Kayla said in a frustrating tone. This was no time for her little brother to not answer his phone.

"This is Bo. Sorry to miss your call. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you." his voice message echoed. When she heard the beep indicating her to leave a message, Kayla fought desperately to try and find her voice. She was too full of emotion to think much less speak. Fighting back tears, Kayla summoned all her inner strength and left her brother a message:

"Bo, its Kay. Listen, I need you to return this call as soon as possible." Kayla's voice broke and she took a deep breath and cleared her throat before continuing.

"Andre got to Steve and he stabbed him. It's bad, Bo… it's really, really bad. The ambulance should be here any moment and I'm going to hospital and patch him up—no pun intended", Kayla said with a small laugh trying to lighten the moment. "Please meet me there just as soon as you can... I need you, bro! I love you".

Next, Kayla decided to call Stephanie. This was a call she was dreading, but she knew that her daughter had to know. Taking another deep breath, Kayla dialed Stephanie's phone.

"Hello?" , Stephanie answered

"Baby Girl, its Mama", Kayla said

"Mama? Are you alright? You sound out of breath"

"No. I'm not alright. It's your Papa... He's hurt and I'm taking him to the hospital I need you gather the baby's things and meet me there.. I also need you to let your Aunt Adrienne and Grandma Jo know too. Have them meet us there.

"Yes, Mama"

"Thank you, Baby Girl."

"Mama?"

"Yes?"

"Papa's going to be okay right?"

"I hope so, Baby Girl... I hope so…"

All her phone calls made, Kayla hung up the phone and placed it in her purse. She cradled Steve in her arms rocking him gently back and forth.

"Steve... you got to hold on. I can't lose you again... You have to fight. Can you do that for me? You have to be strong … I refuse to let you die on me, Steven Earl Johnson!", Kayla said as Steve lay limp in her arms. She let a few tears escape from her eyes.

Soon, Kayla heard the sound of sirens and the ambulance came rushing down the street. EMT's loaded Steve onto a backboard and into the ambulance Kayla followed suit, leaving her car in favor of riding in the ambulance with Steve.

In the ambulance, Kayla took Steve's hand and gave it a squeeze. She hummed, "The Rose" to him softly and gently caressed his face.

Suddenly, she heard Steve cough. He was coughing up blood and gasping for air, trying to talk in between.

"S—S—Sweetness?" Steve said in a voice barely audible

Kayla leaned in closer, staining to hear him. She gently stroked his cheek.

"I'm here, Steve. I'm right here... It's okay…"

"Andre. He—"

"Shh... Don't talk". Kayla whispered. Please don't talk. Safe your strength... You're safe in my arms...

"S---S-----So cold", Steve mumbled. Coughing again, Steve spat up blood which now covered the blanket the EMTs had placed on him.

"You're cold? Here baby, I'll warm you up"

Kayla took Steve's hand in hers and rubbed it, trying to get him warm. She tried to reassure him that he was going to be fine and tried to remain as calm as possible. She knew that she needed to be strong for him.

"I—I love you, S--------------- Sweetness", Steve struggled

Again fighting back the urge to cry, Kayla whispered: "I love you, Mr. Patchman!"

Steve continued to cough. Suddenly, he turned to her looking much disoriented. Steve looked straight into Kayla's eyes, moaned and with one more gasping breath, he closed his eye. Kayla felt Steve's hand go limp in hers.

"Steve, Kayla cried "Steve! Wake up! You have to wake up! Don't you dare you leave me, damn it! Don't you leave!

Kayla began CRP on Steve. She could already tell that it was going to be a long night.


End file.
